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November 6, 2009

Shari Candies namesake dies

Sharon Rosen was 71

By Robb Murray

The woman behind the sweetest name in Mankato — Sharon Rosen, namesake for Shari Candies — died Thursday.

Rosen, 71, died in Milwaukee after long battles with mental illness and cancer. But even in her final days, family members used the memories of the family candy-packaging business to cheer her up.

“I tried to talk about Shari Candies with her because it was something nice for her to remember,” said Rosen’s sister, Vicki Chiger. “She loved being connected with it.”

Rosen, who was born Sharon Kitsis, was a young girl when the Shari Candies name was created. A relative contracted polio and the family was trying to find ways to bring in more money to pay mounting medical bills. So they set up a grocery stand on the street and began selling food. Eventually, they filled little bags with candy and used Rosen’s first name to create Shari Candies.

The idea worked and eventually, in 1944, a family business was born.

Chiger says both she and her sister had happy childhoods in Mankato, and today she still has fond memories of their life here.

After high school, Rosen attended the University of Minnesota. But by age 19, she’d begun having trouble from the mental illness that would stay with her for the rest of her life.

Chiger said Rosen had been given medication that contributed to her Parkinson’s disease. And even though Chiger was younger, Rosen’s mental illness often made Chiger feel like the older sister.

In the final years of Rosen’s life, Chiger would talk about Shari Candies during visits. Chiger said Rosen loved to listen to any talk of the candy company or her father, Maurice Kitsis, who died in 1979.

The business — which packaged pre-made candy in a factory next to Tourtellotte Park — thrived for decades until 2003, when the company was sold to a competitor.

The candy had been sold in Target stores and various grocery store chains. At the height of their success, Shari Candies were sold in Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Singapore.

Everything from Circus Peanuts, Bit-O-Honey and bubble gum was sold in Shari Candies packaging.

And for decades, Rosen’s name was affixed to the millions of packages that left Mankato for candy shops and giant retailers everywhere.

Chiger even joked about how, one day as a little girl when jealousy got the best of her, she cried because her big sister had the privilege of having bags of candy named after her.

“Even in the last couple of days I mentioned there were never any ‘Vicki Candies,’” Chiger said. “So we laughed about that.”

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